


the comforts of trust and safety

by EJwrites



Series: SHAY WEEK [5]
Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fix-It, Polyamory, season 5
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 15:31:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11992638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EJwrites/pseuds/EJwrites
Summary: on the island, delphine is on her way to geneva but is struck with dread.  shay is on a recovery job.  cosima is in a cage.  their paths all meet and maybe it turns out better.(aka: the season 5 fix-it i've been prattling about on tumblr for months.)





	the comforts of trust and safety

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: the warning is literally only for this chapter and a subsequent chapter later on. i will mark that chapter. i just want to say that all the named characters that we know and love make it out alive. /every single one/.

After Delphine had pulled her clothes back on, the outdated and scratchy dress discarded, she had hastily promised Cosima that she would be back as soon as she could.She knew that things were ramping up here on the island and she would need help.She hated herself for leaving, the guilt already eating her alive even as she was still standing in front of her. 

Cosima had reassured her that she would be fine.For some reason she didn’t quite believe that.

They’d kissed.Oh, god had they kissed.It wasn’t a rushed series of pecks used to hide a quiet message.It wasn’t a veiled goodbye.It wasn’t a desperate cling to affection that they weren’t allowed to have.

It was passionate and full of promises that they both intended to keep.

“I love you,” Cosima had whispered into her shoulder.

Shudders had run up her spine. 

It had been so long since anyone had said it.She’d forgotten what it had felt like.

“Je t’aime, aussi.”

With one final kiss, she had left.Escorted by two armed guards, of course. 

The ghost of the press of Cosima’s lips accompanied her to her yurt, where she was allowed to pack her bag.She didn’t know why they continued to let her do this, she only had two changes of clothes left after she’d lent some to Cosima.

The guards were now in her yurt, commanding her that it was time to go.She shouldered her bag and was escorted back towards the house, where the helipad was.As she passed she heard two other guards discussing something in a hushed manner.

“- not allowed down there anymore.”

“I mean, we weren’t allowed down there anyway.”

“Yeah, but now only high ranks get to guard the basement.”

Dread settled in her belly.She didn’t know how, and if you were to ask her she would not be able to describe it, but she knew that Cosima was in the basement.And even more unsettling, she knew that Cosima was in trouble. 

She turned towards the house.

\- - - - -

“You’re telling me we got flown out to the coast and now we’re going out into the ocean to rescue an unknown number of innocents from a cult they might not want to actually leave?” Brent asked incredulously.

Shay snorted but remained at attention. 

David, an older guy who she wasn’t too familiar with, clenched his jaw.“That is your job, isn’t it?”

Brent shrugged.

“Did you think,” David started again, this time trying to be threatening, “that because you knew the head of operations personally that you would get special treatment?”

Shay laughed.

David rounded on her.“Something funny, Davydov?”

“Yeah,” she chortled.“We’re literally doing Jake a favor by working for him.Special treatment was part of the deal when we agreed.”She quickly added a, “Sir,” at the end so as not to piss him off even further.

David’s forehead vein engorged and his face changed several shades red and purple.“Just get on the damn boat,” he spat.He spun and walked away.“Dismissed,” he called over his shoulder.

Brent giggled.“I hate him so much, where did Jake even get him?”

“I don’t know,” Shay admitted as tightened her various holsters and harnesses.“But let’s just,” she frowned deeply and put on a gruff voice, “Get on the damn boat.”

Brent laughed.

\- - - - -

Revulsion coursed through her body.At least when they’d killed Kendall in front of her it had been behind her.And the body wasn’t sitting in the same room with her, staring at her with judgement in his blank eyes. 

She had to get up and move, she needed to pace.Her body had a lot of negative energy in it and she wanted to burn it off.The only problem was that no matter what path she chose she’d have to look at Yannis’s body.

So she just hung on the cage.She tried to pull at the wire, to see if there were any weak points. 

There weren’t. 

This cage had been designed to hold a gown man, who was at least twice as strong as her, for a majority of his life.

She closed her eyes and sunk to the floor, panic rising in her chest.She had no idea how she was going to get out of this one and this was the one that was likely to kill her.

She smushed her eyes shut and into her knees.

Nope, not gonna go there.Not now.

She tried to soothe herself with the memory of Delphine’s departure.Her kisses had been so warm and strong.She had been completely engulfed in her arms.It had felt like coming home.

She’d missed her so much.She still missed her so much.As selfish as it was, she wished she were here and locked up, too.If not just to keep her company.

She was glad that she had at least gotten to kiss her one last time.

\- - - - -

Her guards were easy enough to evade.She just started using science words.There was no way an electromagnetic gyroscopic microscope mass spectrometer even existed, was in the lab in the house, or would fit on her person.But they let her into the house to look for it anyway.

She ducked down two hallways quickly and slipped into a closet.The so-called ‘trained security specialists’ were worse at finding than her grandmother had been at finding a then-year-old Delphine.They passed right by her, she slipped back out, and went the opposite way towards the basement door.

The stairs creaked under her feet.It was dark.She had no idea what to expect. 

The sight of Cosima curled into a ball against the inside of a blood spattered cage was probably the second or third worst thing she could think of.

“Cosima!” she gasped and rushed forward.She dropped to her knees next to her.

At the sound of her voice, Cosima’s head snapped up.“Delphine?”She reached her hands through the wires and stroked her fingertips along whatever she could reach.“I- I thought…You were leaving.”

“I was.I just… had a bad feeling.Are you okay?” 

Cosima nodded, her bottom lip starting to tremble implying that she wasn’t at all okay.Well… at least she wasn’t hurt.

She glanced up at the door to the cage.It was only a small lock, but their ability to outsmart it quickly was the only thing keeping them alive.“Did you see where the keys are kept?”

Cosima shook her head.

Delphine bit her lip, eyes scanning for likely places.It seemed logical that there may be a hook somewhere on the wall for ease of access.

“I’ll be right back,” she promised.She pressed several kisses to each of Cosima’s hands and stood.She prowled the walls and the table tops. 

Aha!Just at the base of stairs a keyring with about a dozen keys glinted on the wall.Just as she grabbed them the door at the top of the stairs burst open.One of her guards caught her eyes and stormed down.

Delphine jolted herself out of her frozen deer-in-the-headlights state to sprint across the room.

She wasn’t fast enough.His arm wrapped around her middle and slammed her sideways.

\- - - - -

The island was small.It didn’t take long to go from one end to the other.When the team got to the edge of the village they were surprised. 

The people who lived here were all out of their tents and trailers, yelling and fighting about some guy named Petey.They already seemed like they wanted to leave.

They redivided the labor.Three-quarters of the team would stay here and handle this, getting folks to the boat and gathering intel.The rest would go up to the house.

Shay and Brent nodded at each other and moved for the stairs.

Once in the house, they split.Three teams disappeared upstairs and on the ground floor.Shay and Brent were tasked with finding lower levels. 

They opened doors and snuck around. 

They heard muffled yelling from behind one.They nodded at each other, it didn’t matter if this was the basement they were going to take care of this first. 

Brent kicked it open, Shay went in first.Oh, good.Stairs, they’d found the basement.

She crab walked down, pointing her gun (a tranquilizer gun, another part of the deal) outwards, knowing Brent was right behind her and covering her back.

What she found was almost funny.

Cosima, reaching through a chicken wire cage crying, “No!” while Delphine stood with a table in between her and a man who was reaching towards her.

The only part that made it not funny was the splatter of blood on the wall, Delphine’s blood covered face, and the gun the man was reaching for.

\- - - - -

She had never felt so helpless. 

She watched as Delphine got smashed against a wall, her forehead gushing blood.She watched as she got choked, only escaping by scratching at his eyes.She watched her hair get pulled, her stomp on his foot to make him yowl, her get backhanded and her nose erupt more blood.She watched as she was pushed into a table, her ribs crashing into the edge, and had to listen to her yelps of pain.

She could only watch. 

Delphine was narrowly avoiding dying and she was crying and hanging onto a door.

Just as the guy was reaching for his gun, the door burst open again.He spun towards the noise and three red fluffs sprouted on his chest.He looked down, grimaced, and moved forward only to get cracked over the head with whatever weapon had put the fluffs in him.

The head smasher turned towards her and Cosima lost all concept of reality.

“Cosima, are you alright?” Shay asked. 

She looked good.Healthy glint in her eye, not completely obscured by her worry.She looked bigger, but maybe that was the tactical gear she was wearing.

She knew she was gaping.Her brain divided between needing to go help Delphine and surprise that Shay was here.

“Here, let’s get you out and then we can talk,” Shay suggested.She pulled experimentally on the lock.It didn’t budge, like when Cosima had been desperately tugging on it earlier.

That didn’t deter Shay.She pulled some kind of black, hand-held thing out of her leg straps and used the butt of it to smack on the lock.It was more useful than her bare hand, but not useful enough.

“Shay!” a man’s voice called, “We’ve got keys over here.”

A man walked over, supporting some of Delphine’s weight.She placed the bloody keys in Shay’s hand. 

He pulled her over to the side and prompted her to pinch her nose, presumably to stop the bleeding.

Shay went through the key ring and found the right one.She dropped the lock to the floor. 

Cosima burst out of the door and immediately went to Delphine.

“I’b fide,” she tried to murmur reassuringly, but blood dribbled down her chin.

“Never do that again,” Cosima scolded and pressed her face into her shoulder in an awkward attempt at a hug.It was hard when one person was holding their nose and had another person prodding at their head wound.

“D’accord,” Delphine hummed.

Cosima reached under Delphine’s coat, feeling at her ribs.Delphine hissed and jerked away.Cosima sighed, frustrated and angry.“Those are probably broken,” she grumbled.It seemed like Delphine’s bullet wound had just healed and now she had some broken ribs.

The man nodded.“Yeah.But we’ve got a full medical bay on the boat.So as soon as we get there, we’ll be golden.”

“Not to cut this short,” Shay chimed in, “But we’ve got an estimated time of departure in thirty-five minutes.”

They all moved towards the door.Cosima, in a daze grabbed Delphine’s bag off the floor.They moved through the house and out. 

Delphine tried to stop them, to get a coat for Cosima, but Shay said they shouldn’t re-enter as the house hadn’t been fully cleared yet.

“I’m not even cold,” she muttered, her eyes unable to focus on anything she looked at.

At that admission, Delphine immediately shrugged out of her own coat and helped Cosima into it. 

Just as she was zipped up, a group of three came down the steps behind them.

“Ira!” Cosima called.He was bleeding from his nose and leaning heavily on his escorts, who were dressed exactly like Shay. 

“Cosima,” he slurred.He reached out with a shaky hand and put a manila envelope in her hand.

“Susan?” Cosima asked.

Ira just shook his head.His escorts pulled him away at a trot, trying to get him to the boat before the glitch killed him.They didn’t know that it was a lost cause if it had gotten this far.

Panic gripped her chest, making the shock burn away.“We need to go to the medical trailer and we need to find Charlotte.”

“Okay,” Shay nodded.“Who’s Charlotte?”

“My little sister.”

“Where was she?” the man asked.

Cosima shook her head.“I don’t know.Probably in one of the tents.”

“Then she should have been taken out of here already.”

“I’m not leaving here without her.”The panic had gone from helping her out of her daze into making her chest burn with fear.

“We wod’t,” Delphine promised.“I bill go to the trailer.For the cure, right?”

Cosima nodded.

She watched Shay and who she assumed was her partner exchange a look.It didn’t look like a supportive look.

“I tell you what,” the man started, “We’ll look for her in the tents on the way out.And if she’s not there, she’s probably already on the boat.”

Delphine shrugged her elbow out of his hand and declared, “Doh.We fide her before we leabe.”

Cosima bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying the exact same thing.

“Cobe od,” she gestured to the partner and started over to the trailer.

Shay sighed.“Alright.”She then pulled out her radio and after a brief description of Charlotte, they started to move out.They walked briskly and with purpose, but the partner and Delphine caught up easily, cooler dangling at the partner’s side.They looked into tents, they asked other people, and just as they were getting to the edge of the village with no word on the radio Cosima was starting to lose hope.Her movements were rushed and shaky, her limbs trembling.

Just as she was going to start crying and screaming her name desperately a little, “Cosima!” from two tents up made all the tension leave her body.

“Charlotte!” she called.When she caught sight of the little pigtails and her bobbing gait she sprinted forward.They met and Cosima scooped her up in a hug.When her feet touched the ground again she pressed a bazillion kisses to the top of her head. 

Charlotte giggled and squirmed out of her arms.Cosima slid her hands to her shoulders.“I am so glad you’re okay,” Cosima choked.

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“I just worry,” Cosima teased.“But hey, this is my friend Shay and her friend.And they’re gonna take us out of here on a boat.Okay, bud?”

“A boat?” Charlotte asked incredulously.

“Yeah,” Cosima confirmed, turned her by the shoulders and pulled her along towards the shore.

“I don’t know how to swim.”

Cosima was totally at a loss.She forgets sometimes that some people aren’t part fish.

“It’s okay,” Shay chimed in from next to her, “It’s a really big boat.There’s no way you could fall out.”

“And even if you did,” the partner continued, “The boat is full of people who used to be in the Navy.They know how to swim really well.”

“Okay.”She didn’t seem entirely convinced but fell into step with the group anyway.

\- - - - -

A kid sister.That was new information.But kids weren’t that big of deal.At least not at this point.The island was all but cleared.All the process should be from this point was a walk through the woods.

Brent took the lead, weapon drawn but at his side.Cosima holding Charlotte’s hand after him.Delphine next, still pinching her bleeding nose.And Shay in the rear, making periodic turns to check behind them.

It was during one of these turns that she heard the sound of a slipping boot, a body thumping to the ground, the air rushing out of lungs, and a strangled cry of pain.She spun around to see Delphine sprawled over a log curling into herself.

Cosima and Shay rushed to her sides.They got her into a sitting position on the log, not without some more cries of pain. 

She hadn’t noticed it before, but as Delphine struggled to gain her breath back there was a rattle to her lungs. 

“Cosima?” Charlotte asked and Cosima turned to take care of her.

Delphine looked up to Shay.“I can’t,” she panted.

“Yes you can,” Shay really had no idea if she could, but she wasn’t about to leave her in the woods to rot.

A couple tears escaped Delphine’s eyes and disappeared into the growing bloodstain that was her face.“It hurts,” she whimpered.

Shay had no idea how much of a beating she had taken, but judging by her state it must’ve been pretty bad.“I know.I’ll help you, okay?”

“How?”

“You can lean on me.I’ll basically carry you.”

Delphine shook her head.“I’ll be fine.”

Shay smiled at the one-eighty; I can’t to I’ll be fine.“You want to try and get up?”

Delphine nodded.And to give her some credit, it wasn’t a totally pathetic one. 

Shay stood and put her arms out.Delphine hesitated for a moment, but grabbed her forearms and stood painfully. 

Shay brought her non-nose pinching hand and put it around her shoulders.Delphine pretended to not need it but within a minute was leaning on her heavily.

The rest of the journey through the woods wasn’t hard at all.The trees cleared, they oriented themselves, and moved up the beach.They came around a bend and there she was.The boat.Well, it was more of a ship.Well, somewhere in between.It was a confusing distinction.

But the sight of the hustle and bustle of loading it, with the bright lights flooding the shore, had never been a more welcoming sight.


End file.
